Lucifers Hero

Did anyone hear Max on AFL 360 last night? His knee was iced up yesterday. He didn't sound at all confident of playing on Saturday but I'm not sure if he was just joking around; its always a bit hard to tell with Max. Needs to pass fitness test today. Whether he is ready or not I guess he has to play as this is literally a real do or die game.

So if Plapp is fwd line who is the midfield coach? Looks like 'Robbing Peter to pay Paul'.

Yes. But the Tribunal has gone to a new level of stupidity. Its 'rational' beggars belief: In the tribunal's reasons for clearing Grimes, three points were emphasised: "...the vision it is noticeable that the player’s trajectory towards the ball had been altered by the propping and contact made by the Essendon player Stringer to the player's back. It can be seen in the vision that the player's left foot digs into the turf and a tuff of grass appears indicating the player's attempt to stay on course to contest the fall of the football. "At this stage the player's timing and balance has been affected by the actions of the Essendon player Stringer at a stage just prior to contesting the football whether it be to either jump to mark or spoil the football. "The player raises his right hand/arm in what appears to be an attempt to spoil or distract the Essendon player number 43 even though the player was under the ball at this stage and moving forward quickly and off balance as a result of the 'nudge' afforded to him by Essendon player Stringer." tribunal-clears-grimes-and-vlastuin-of-staging Talk about myopic excuse making to justify the outcome they wanted. If it was only a 'nudge' how come he took several steps after the 'contact'. Play had continued Tippa had kicked the ball and Grimes is still diving. He raised his arm to get a free! It is an embarrassment that supposedly intelligent people can think let alone write such piffle!

A bit wishy washy. It would have been more powerful if he had mentioned the ANB ban.

Therein lies part of the problem. It wasn't the same Tribunal. It had a different Chair and a different panel (ex players) with different interpretations and different instructions/agendas. Remember last year Toby Greene got a week suspension before the GWS/Collingwood prelim final. The Tribunal were nearly all ex-Coll players as (was and is) the MRO. If the AFL can't ensure indpendence for a prelim what hope is there in season. And the Tribunal don't look at 'precedent' and I doubt most of the panel would understand what it means. Also it usually doesn't allow videos of past similar events (altho this is being relaxed these days) which is a perfect smoke screen to say 'each case on its merits' but it really means 'we can do what we like the AFL want us to do'. There is no chance of consistency by Christian and even less so by the Tribunal until they have independent people on the Tribunal and the same people/Chair case to case. Of course it will never happen as the AFL likes to manipulate outcomes.

The AFL justifies anything it wants to justify however implausible. They call it being flexible or there are nuances that need to be considered etc etc etc The AFL may just want the cold hard cash now rather than dollar equivalent fuzzy benefits further down the track.

WA up the ante: "Despite the premier claiming WA is playing “hard to get”, the Herald Sun reported the state has offered $35 million to host the flag decider, or $50 million to host all finals". Apparently, they also want to buy the Eagles rnd 18 game to have it at Optus Stadium. west-coast-vs-north-melbourne-round-18 C Scott is on the record as saying they 'prefer' the GF to be in Qld, which is no surprise. $50m is a huge sum during covid for the AFL. We all know the right thing to do is for the GF to go to Qld because they kept the comp alive this year. But as we also know the right thing doesn't mean much to the AFL and $50m might be too good juicy a carrot to not take.

Langdon's fine is being appealed tonight - see two posts above yours.

A very gracious and heartfelt response by Muir to St Kilda's reaching out and to the support he has received from so many. i-ve-been-overwhelmed-healing-begins-for-robert-muir-saints-make-contact

Tribunal Appeals: Geelong to appeal Dahlhaus one week ban. Richmond to appeal the Grimes and Vlastuin staging fines. {Grimes took 3 steps before falling after the non-contact) Port Adelaide's Sam Powell-Pepper one weak ban Melbourne's Ed Langdon, fine Lachlan Murphy, fine tigers-to-appeal-staging-sanctions If all those appeals get upheld the whole MRP process will be more of a dog's breakfast than it already is.

If that is one that Lyon referred to as 'Hollywood' not sure Petracca had much choice. The tap landed so that he had his back to our goals. He knew Viney and Oliver were behind him. He had Liberatore right in front ready to pounce. The vision was wide enough to see if he was coralled in. So he hand balled backwards. It didn't work. I had the impression Preuss tapped to the wrong spot. The set-up looked like the tap would go to Viney or Oliver and they would pass to Pretacca who had a straight run to goal. A lot of our taps went to the wrong spot last Saturday.

Surgery Funds Raised "A GoFundMe page was created for Muir to help try and reach the $28,000 mark required for Muir’s surgery. Incredibly, that figure was reached in under five hours, with more than $100,000 has been raised". Great to see people rally and support.

This week I have added # of days between games shown as (x) for each game. I've also added (F) for flights for the 7th and 8th spots contenders. Interesting that in many cases a bye isn't really a bye. The break for a bye ranges from 7 days to 12 days. Final 8 Contenders: 7th Collingwood: Almost there 8th Bulldogs: can still miss the 8 as they have a tough run home. They are on 7 wins and need to win at least two of their last 4 to be safe; two of which are vs Cats and Eagles. They will fancy themselves vs Hawks and Freo. 9th Demons, 10th Blues and 11th Giants sit outside the 8, all on six wins with 5 games yet to play: We have a good %'age altho that can be lost quite quickly as the loss of 6% at the weekend showed. I don't see any clear %'age boosting games for us whereas the Blues and Giants play the Crows. After this week all 3 teams have two 5 day breaks and one 4 day break The travel gods are really favouring Carlton (and Collingwood) as they have no flights in their run to round 17, whereas we fly each week. Freo play Bulldogs, Dees and Giants. They are on a roll, have conceded miserly scores so could easily determine who makes it.

Comparison of Options the-case-for-and-against-each-state-s-bid-for-the-afl-grand-final Western Australia The case: WA Premier Mark McGowan has repeatedly said his state has the best stadium for the game, but crucially won't budge on quarantine expectations for AFL sides. Queensland The case: Without Queensland this season simply would not have worked, and the AFL's financial black hole would have been significantly larger. This goodwill looms as key in the AFL's decision-making. A grand final in Queensland would be a win for the AFL in a growth market, where television ratings are up (admittedly off a low base). South Australia The case: Early in July South Australia didn't come to the table when the AFL wanted to establish hubs in the state. However, teams have been able to travel between South Australia and Queensland quite easily as the season progressed and this has worked in the state's favour. New South Wales The case: Both the Victorian government and the MCC - both have a say in the decision - are opposed to New South Wales getting the event, therefore it looks almost impossible. The ANZ Stadium surface has long been a problem during AFL games. Victoria The case (or lack thereof): The government and AFL have held out until the very last minute to rule Victoria out (that won't happen officially until replacement stadium announced).

Coaches votes are in: 9 Marcus Bontempelli (WB) 5 Lachie Hunter (WB) 5 Mitch Wallis (WB) 4 Tom Liberatore (WB) 3 Bailey Smith (WB) 2 Steven May (MELB) 1 Jason Johannisen (WB) 1 Jack Macrae (WB) Well done to May as the only Demon among the votes. The only one that deserved any really. Best guess split: 5/4 Bontempelli 4/1 or 3/2 Hunter/Wallis 4 Liberatore 3 Smith 2 May 1 Johannisen 1 Macrae So another week where there was quite different views between the two coahces. Petracca still second on the leader board but another round 13 game tongight.

In April Richardson coached and they beat us 90:55. In July Ratten coached and they beat us 104:85 which included 12 or 13 goals by the saints from our turnovers. There are about 10 players of their July team that didn't play yesterday vs the Lions. Main absentees were Lonie, Bruce and Gresham. Some of the additions are King, Ryder, Hill, Butler, Jones, Kent, Geary, Coffield, Hunter. A vast improvement on the team that beat us that day. Our team is better with inclusions like Weideman, May and Kozzie. The saints have added a lot of skill and speed; things we are not strong on. They beat us with set-ups at stoppages, keeping a player ready to receive on the outside of the pack, switching across their backline and winning the ground ball. Much like the Bulldogs on Saturday. Very pessimistic about this game.

Wasn't there a rule that if a player gets 3 fines in one year the third is an automatic 1 week suspension. Jordan Lewis was hit with this a few years ago when he played for us. I wonder if that rule is still in place? Either way, it looks like a cop out by Christian. Deliberate, low impact, high impact = 1 week holiday. Watch the Tribunal just give Lynch a fine...

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st-kilda-apologises-to-former-player-robert-muir Kudos for the apology. But do they have to wait until a harrowing story is in the media. It behoves all clubs to look back at those that have worn their jumper and reach out before the media spotlight past wrongs. Those wrongs weren't seen as wrongs at the time; sadly it is how our society was. Nor can those wrongs be undone. But the player can be embraced for what they contributed to the club.

tbh I don't think there are changes that will give us a win next week. Bulldogs scored a lot of goals (6? maybe...) from turnovers yesterday. In a Ratten coached saints team in July 2019 they scored 12 goals from turnovers. Our defence is better this year but so is their midfield and they are even better at spreading from the contest than last year. Our coaches know what the saints will bring. Re-watching last year's game will refresh memories. Hope they are ready this time and not tell us after the game that the saints came in with a plan that we weren't able to counter or that we will be ready next time. Heard those old chestnut too many times already this year. If we can't stop the turnovers we are toast. The answer is not player changes as we don't really have the right sort of player to bring in. It will be better skills, better composure, more effort, better set-ups/structures around the ground and last but not least better coaching Doubt that we can do all that.

victorian-government-tells-afl-not-to-host-grand-final-in-nsw/ "While Queensland is the raging favourite to host this year’s decider, NSW has emerged as Victoria’s chief major events rival and the Victorian Government has made it clear it doesn’t want Sydney getting a look-in". NSW are looking to poach other events. Politics is the name of the game!

The info is in the Annual Accounts but it isn't easy to find. If it is at all reassuring, I don't think we have been misled. Also see the two posts above your latest for a bit more context.

I agree the $2.5m of the Leighoak sale was used to pay down debt. My read of the article is we still have debt so to be debt free in 2021 we need to use more of the remaining $7.5 Leigoak/investment portfolio The article also says we will make a loss of $3.5m this year so I am assuming that another chunk of the remaining $7.5 Leighoak/investment portfolio will be used to fund that shortfall. Very good question about the Bentleigh and Leighoak lost revenue. My recollection of the sale announcements was that we would get commercial income from our new facilities (rental, signage etc etc) and growth in memberships. My concern is if we use proceeds from their sale to pay down debt and fund operating losses we won't have the money for the new facilities to get that commercial income that was hoped for. I don't mind paying down debt but don't see a lot of value if interest rates are near zero. I'm more worried about asset sales being used to fund operating losses. So from that view I would like to see the Bentleigh club site not sold until we have a concrete new facilities project to fund.

Not sure what that refers to. More info, please...

Agreed. The figures may be distorted a little because Viney didn't play round 11 so Sparrow filled in there a bit. Over the last few weeks I've noticed our midfield becoming more about roles (when not attending centre bounces/not resting in another position) than names: Wingmen 1 & 2 (AvB and Langdon) play up and down their respective wings and help defend by floating into the backline, sometimes really deep. Midfield 1 (Gus) being parked virtually in the middle (see heat map above) where he patrols the corridor stopping their attacking forays which keep them out wide and helping our attacking forays thru the corridor by acting as a link man. Midfielder 2 (Petracca) drifts fwd of centre both sides of the ground. Midfielder 3 & 4 (Viney and Oliver) - not sure yet what there non CBA/non resting role is. Will be watching closely today to see if I can work it out. Midfielder 5 (Sparrow) rotates with above to the bench or other roles Ruckman (Gawn/Preuss) - sit in hole in defence (Wish I had access to heat maps to test these observations). Its like the ground has been carved up and each has been allocated sections. They don't all need to run both ways all day long. Makes good sense, keeps our ball movement structures in tack while supporting defenders and fwds. Not to mention it conserves energy and it means that a heap of players aren't all going for the same ball stacks-on-the-mill style. So we are close to 'one soldier out, one soldier in' be it within a game or week to week. A strong position to be in.